Cold Link Africa September 2019 | Page 9

PROJECT INCORPORATING COLD CHAIN Continued from page 1 Trans-critical CO 2 system pushing boundaries for Meat World O ther than the production facility in Springs, Meat World also has a total of 15 stores. Meat World CEO, Angelino Pereira, has worked with the Coolcare (part of the Brasco Group) team for 24 years and they look after the refrigeration plants of the majority of the stores. So, when the time came to upgrade the production facility, Coolcare was the natural choice. In 2017, the experienced Coolcare team received the plans for the new Meat World production facility that was going to be erected in the Springs area for which they needed to supply energy efficient refrigeration equipment at the client’s request. 1 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS The new facility employs an impressive 370 staff, almost doubling the 180 in number at the previous facility. It also drastically increased in floor size, from 3 000m 2 to 7 000m 2 . 2 Due to the high ambient temperatures often experienced in these parts of South Africa, it was vital that this system could operate trans- critically as well as sub-critically. Coolcare contacted Metraclark to brainstorm ideas to supply technologically advanced equipment that would save their client energy, and deliver the refrigeration specifications initially set out for this massive facility. The Metraclark engineering team worked off the floor plans supplied along with all the daily meat production figures and calculated all the heat load requirements for each room. 3 The heat load for the system consisted of amongst others between 80 and 160 tonnes of fresh meat as well as 1 000 tonnes of frozen meat passing through the facility daily. This all added up to a combined heat load of 840kW for both the medium and low temperature applications. Additionally, the client required that the system could supply 10 000 litres of hot water per hour as well as 2 000 litres of chilled water for various factory and processing functions. Considering the requirement that the system be state-of-the-art and energy efficient, a standard synthetic refrigerant refrigeration system was foregone in lieu of a CO 2 system, incorporating a trans- critical booster design. Due to the high ambient temperatures often experienced in these parts of South Africa, it was vital that this system could operate trans- critically as well as sub-critically. The plant was commissioned in May 2018 and the new facility was fully moved over and operational by 15 November last year. 1. Standby water tanks. 2. The refrigeration team on site, from left: Johann Jooste (Metraclark); Gareth Mitchley (Metraclark); Marc de Bruin (Coolcare); Gideon Gous (Metraclark); Michael-Jon De Witt (Coolcare); and Nicolaas du Plessis (Metraclark). 3. Meat World truck loading product from the freezer rooms. COLD LINK AFRICA • SEPTEMBER 2019 www.coldlinkafrica.co.za 9